1. Programming for Special Needs
University of Winnipeg-Asia
Graduate Program
By
Shafaq Shafi
Nakorn Payap International School
Chaingmai Thailand
2. “ I see, hear and believe what I want. We are a product
of our education and how we have been raised”
Dr. Heinrich
Hoffmann
“My cultural
tale influences
what I see, hear
and believe.”
Cultural tales
teach us to
focus on
4. It is easy to include the smart, powerful
and beautiful; it is quite another thing to
include those outside our circles
5. Flight Kid
Regressive
disengaged
cry
Connecting to the flight kid
•Tell them you care
•Ask, “how are you doing?”
•Think about connection after the fact, after
lunchtime, school, recess
•Persistent-come back again and talk again
•Give a task-redirect
•Pre-teach- there are safe places you can go to.
6. Fight Kid
Uses Physical violence to express emotion.
Aggressive
Making Connections
•Say you have the right to show
anger
•Acknowledge the anger
•Try to remove the audience
•Refrain from judging. Get rid of
self talk.
•Do not talk about the solution
right away.
7. Fool kid
passive aggressive
ways/argue/confront/use sarcasm
Connections
• Honor his/her ability
• Acknowledge and move on.
Don’t take the hook. “Never let
them see you sweat”
• Engage in the banter
• Hear them out
• Praise, add humor, show
kindness, give away some
power
8. There is more going on than that
meets the eye
Empower the kid in the process
Become a spark in the child’s eye
Be genuine and true
Be kind and caring
9. Set up a classroom where emotions
are validated
12. Strength based Psychology
Autonomy Achievement
Altruism
Cooperation Self control Responsible
Respectful Resiliency Empathetic
Trust Friendships
Assertive problem solver Creative leader
13. Emotional intelligence
knowing one’s emotions, self awareness, recognize a feeling
as it happens
Being able to
motivate one self
Being able to
manage emotions
Being able to
recognize emotions
in others-empathy
Being able to create
healthy relationships
14. Difference in Psychological Worlds
Helping Humans Hurting Humans
Perceiving Diverse Concrete
Multidimensional One dimensional
Thinking Logical Illogical
Cognitively based Omnipotent
Irrational traps
Feeling Accepts and Flooded
applies controls Explosive
Behaving Accepts Hides or hurls
Responsibility for Responsibility at
behavior others
15. Stress in Children’s Lives
Understand the feelings/reasons behind
inappropriate behavior
• Developmental
• Psychological
• Reality
• Physical
16. Emotional Defenses
• Denial-didn’t happen
• Regression-going back to a
safer place
• Conversion-turn psychological
stress into a physical stress
• Rationalization-talk yourself
out of it
• Displacement-displacing your
stress on others
• Projection-take your stress and
problems and give them to
someone else
18. Conflict Cycle
Power Struggle or Emotional Reaction Cycle
Cycle begins again A stressful
but increases in situation
intensity occurs
Creates
Creates feeling affected
additional
by the child’s sense of
stress for
self
the child
Adults begin to mirror the Coping/negative behavior:
child’s feelings: demanding, lying, cheating, hitting,
scolding, yelling, swearing swearing, rationalizing
Creates
stress in an
adult
19. Breaking the conflict cycle
• Know that adults should take
responsibility to disengage
• Be in touch with your own feelings
• Understand how a child’s behavior
can be mirrored
• Verbalize messages using “I”
instead of “You”
• Understand the feelings / reasons
behind inappropriate behavior
• Be aware of the emotional
defenses humans use
• Know the child and know yourself
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help
• Feelings are OK when you have
them. Don’t be had by them
20.
21. Why Humans become Counter Aggressive
Caught in the 40% Nick Long and Life Space Intervention
conflict cycle
Violation of 25%
cherished hopes
and beliefs
Being in a bad 10%
mood
Exposing our 10%
finished business
Not meeting 5%
professional
expectations
Feeling of 5%
helplessness
Prejudging a 5%
troubled student
22. Be in touch with your own feelings
Emotional Intelligence
• Knowing one’s emotion,
self awareness, recognizing
a feeling as it happens
• Being able to recognize
emotions in others;
empathy
• Being able to create healthy
relationships
• Being able to motivates
one’s self
• Ability to manage our
emotions
23. Verbalize messages using “I” instead of
“You”
Use “I” messages instead of “you” messages
“I feel … when you… because...”
24. The question is not what is wrong with you? It is what
has happened to you or what has happened to your
brain?
The brain is built for 3 tasks
• Reacting
• Valuing
• Thinking( takes longest to
develop)
Repetition is a way of
effective learning
25. • Largest & complex organ
Brain
• 100 billion nerves, trillions of connections –synapses
• Outer most layer-cortex-thinking & voluntary
movements
• Brain stem between the spinal cord & the rest part of
the brain. Breathing & sleep controlled here.
• Cerebellum –base & back of the brain-coordination &
balance
• Frontal lobe-problem solving & motor function
• Parietal lobes-sensation, handwriting & body position
The brain is also divided into several lobes:
• The frontal lobes are responsible for problem solving
and judgment and motor function.
• The temporal lobes- memory and hearing.
• The occipital lobes - visual processing system.
• Meninges- surrounding layer of tissue
• The skull (cranium) protects the brain from injury.
26. Understanding the Brain and
Intelligence
• Fluid intelligence is the ability to solve new problems. It
employs short term memory and focused attention
• Crystallized intelligence grows with wisdom gained
over a lifetime
• Learning involves connections in networks of neurons
• Hippocampus: a piece in our brain that sorts important
information
• Teen brains crave novelty and excitement. Without
mature mentors, they become prisoners addicted to
high risk pleasure (Raymond Cattell 1987)
• Neuroplasticity is the brains ability to change when
faced with new problems
28. The moment someone sees an emotion
expressed on your face, they will at once sense
that on themselves
29. Three Pillars of Trauma Informed Care
• Safety
• Connections – relationships
• Self regulation – teaching skills to control anger
Co-regulation Coercive regulation
Goal- help the child to calm Goal -stop bad behavior
Soothing and assertive tone Loud and aggressive tone
Absorb the child’s outburst Retaliate to child’s outbursts
Focus on child’s feelings Focus on the child’s behavior
• Ad
Attention to the child’s need Ignore the child’s needs
Adult is aware of own feelings Adult is oblivious to own feelings
30. The only person you can control…the only
person you can truly motivate is yourself
Discipline Punishment
Proactive reactive
Natural consequences Arbitrary, adult
consequences imposed
Social responsibility taught Obedience to authority
figures
Control through inner Control by external rule &
values threat
Psychological & physical Psychological & physical
punishment is not used punishment is used
31. Fair doesn’t mean you treat everybody equally.
Fair means getting everybody’s needs met
32. Sandwich Scripts
• Enclosing a criticism between two
positive comments
• Positive Comment: “You take very
good
• care of your things.”
• Constructive criticism: “ Perhaps you
• could be more organized before class
• so you do not have to get up out of
• your chair so many times during
class.”
• Positive Comment: “ You are such a
quick learner, I could teach you how
to do this in no time.”
33. What do children & youth need to become good
people and live a good life
love understanding
34. The A. Maslow Model
Self actualization Self respect
Belonging/affection
Physiological
Safety & security
needs
A. Maslow wrote about a ‘peak experience” an event that happens in your life where
you have an overwhelming sense of the rightness of something, it is not a planned
experience.
36. Stanley Coppersmith Model
The Antecedents of Self-
Esteem
Significance
Competence
Power
virtue
37. Developmental assets from the search
institute - resiliency
External assets Internal assets
• Support: family, positive • Commitment to learning
• Positive values
communication, other adult
• Positive identity
relationships, caring • Social competencies: Planning and
neighborhood, caring school decision making; young person knows
climate, parental involvement how to plan ahead and make choices.
Interpersonal competence; young
in school person has empathy, sensitivity and
friendship skills. Cultural competence.
• Empowerment: community Resistance skills; young person can
values youth, youth resources, resist negative peer pressure and
dangerous situations.
service to others, safety Peaceful conflict resolution; young
• Boundaries and expectations person seeks to resolve conflict
nonviolently
• Constructive use of time
40. Five elements necessary for the
ultimate human goal of well being
(Martin Seligman)
• Positive emotion: happiness and life satisfaction
• Positive relationships: other people are important
• Meaning: serving something more than yourself
• Accomplishment: achievement
• Engagement: were you completely absorbed in the
task?
42. The Circle of Courage
generosity belonging
independence mastery
43. Values: Circle of Courage
• Attachment or belonging – Relationships (we
don’t heal separated from others)
• Achievement or mastery – “I can… (improve,
figure things out for myself)”
• Altruism or generosity – Give back (the ability
to do good things)
• Autonym or independence – Empower
44. Suggestions why children misbehave
• Relationship problems (belonging): alienation
• Feelings of inadequacy (mastery): failure
• Loss/lack of power (independence):
helplessness
• Problems with purpose (generosity):
selfishness
49. • Nicholas Hobbs-we
learn best at the
edge of success and
failure
• Mary Pipher-school
failure hurts self
esteem
• Praise not the
product but the
effort
50. When mastery is absent or
distorted:
• Feel stupid, avoid risks,
failure oriented, learned
helplessness, boredom,
learning passion
ignored, gives up easily
• Labeling: lazy, attitude
problem, doesn’t work
to potential
• School failure hurts self
esteem
• Cheating
55. When generosity is absent or distorted
• Narcissistic
• Psychopathic
• Anti social
• Overindulgent
• Self helping
56. Managing Behavior
• Planned ignoring: not paying attention to things that don’t
matter
• Proximity control: move into the child’s space in respectful
ways
• Signal inference: cue the child
• Redirection: find something new to focus on
• Support from routine: security in routine
• Support from restructuring: motivation through creative
effort
• Direct appeal to values: state the value; ask the child for co-
operation
• Support through humor: laughter is good medicine
(From Life Space Crisis Intervention, Nick Long and others)
We must look on children in need not as problems but as individuals with potential to share if they were given the opportunity. Each child is precious and there is some goodness and we have to find ways to draw that out.
Story telling is an integral part of every childhood. I come from northern part of India; and in my childhood days we often used to have power cutoffs. My cousins and me used to gather around our Grandma who used to tells us stories which I sometimes share with my own children. A very simple way of teaching values indeed. I still remember my dad –”As you sow so shall you reap”. I still value this and would want to pass it on to my own children as well as my students at school.
What do you want from your Life? What do you want to do with your life? You only live once, so make the most of it. Everybody lives for themselves, only a few make a difference for others.
To have a family and friends at school or work gives one a sense of belonging. However not everyone is fortunate. Some do get alienated due to numerous circumstances and are labeled as unfriendly, aggressive, anxious, attention disordered or affectionless, unmotivated and unteachable.
To meet the needs of youth at risk, one must be clear about both the nature of alienation and its locus in the life span of the child.(Reclaiming youth at risk)When the basic needs of a child are not met they learn that the adults are unpredictable or unreliable and they view even the friendly and helpful adults with distrust. They develop difficulties in social and emotional adjustments. They become mentally ill, feel depressed and defeated.
The modern society is creating a growing number of children at risk for relationship impairments. There are numerous homeless children ,children without belongings, that are mistreated, abandoned and rejected. Rousseau(28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century. His philosophy influenced the French Revolution and the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought. “There are no longer fathers, mothers, children, brothers or sisters. Each thinks for himself. When the home becomes a sad place of isolation, people look for comfort and relationships beyond and sometimes they end up with other outcast or unclaimed youth.
We as educational professionals should be skillful at building relationships with difficult youth. There has to be an to putting blame on the home and parents. The children should have the freedom to express their emotions and taught ways to manage them. School should be a place for such youth where they can find peace within themselves and the environment surrounding them.
The D words used to describe the people whose behavior deviates from what their society consider acceptable. Abnormal behavior usually involves a deviation from social norms rather than an illness.
In 1998 Martin Seligman and MihalyCsikszentmihalyi proposed Positive Psychology: "We believe that a psychology of positive human functioning will arise, which achieves a scientific understanding and effective interventions to build thriving in individuals, families, and communities”. Positive psychology’s prime focus is to find and nurture genius and talent, make life more fulfilling and not simply to treat mental illness.
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions. Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer have been the leading researchers on emotional intelligence since 1990. In their influential article "Emotional Intelligence," they defined emotional intelligence as, "the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions" (1990).Salovey and Mayer identified four different factors of emotional intelligence: the perception of emotion, the ability to reason using emotions, the ability to understand emotion and the ability to manage emotions.Perceiving Emotions: is to accurately perceive emotions. This also involves understanding nonverbal signals like body language and facial expressions.Reasoning With Emotions: Is to promote thinking and cognitive activity.Understanding Emotions: The emotions one perceives can have a wide variety of meanings. If someone is expressing angry emotions, the observer must interpret the cause of their anger and what it might mean.Managing Emotions: Managing emotions effectively is a key part of emotional intelligence. Regulating emotions, responding appropriately and responding to the emotions of others are all important aspect of emotional management.
Emotions are the life blood and there is no life living without emotions. People’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by presence of others.
The demands placed on us and the ability to meet them is stress which can affect anyone who feels overwhelmed-even kids. Stress in children can be due to over scheduled activities, what’s happening in their own lives, disturbing events shown on TV. Short term behavioral changes in sleep patterns, bedwetting, stomachaches, headaches, trouble concentrating or completing school work can be indicators of stress.
Some children who are coping with stress can become withdrawn and spend time alone. They can pick new habits-thumb sucking, nose picking, hair twirling, lie, bully and defy adult authority. They can have nightmares, separation anxiety, over react to minor problems and there can be changes in academic performance.
If we want to know what is happening then the way to do it is to figure out what processes are actually going on in their minds. We tend to ignore the personalexperiences that people have. We fail to account for the influence of the environment on behavior.Talking about what may be causing their behavior or when they can't or won't discuss their issues, we should try talking about our own. This shows that we are willing to tackle tough topics and are available to talk to them with when they're ready.
Before initiating conflict management or prevention measures it is important to understand the actual occurrence of conflict thus making it of prime importance.The body and face language let us know when a student is emotionally overwhelmed and the behavior interferes with learning and their behavior is hurtful to others.So what is the role of adults/professionals?The first step should be to respond to the anger and then give directives.We should design plans anticipating problems and work towards keeping the kids safe until they can keep themselves safe.
Emotional Intelligence is being “Heart Smart”. It helps you build strong relationships, succeed at work, and achieve your goals and can be developed throughout one’s life.
In a "You-message," the target is the person and we often end up making judgments about that person. Sometimes the people are tagged with labels. But withI-messages we simply state a problem, without putting the blame on someone. This helps solve the problem, without admitting who or what was wrong.What does an I-Message do?An I-message:1. Is helpful in changing the behavior of another person demonstrating an unacceptable behavior. 2. Protects the self esteem of the other person. 3. Helps form stronger bonds
Trauma is associated with the reacting or survival brain – amygdala reads emotional cues to separate friend from foeSimple trauma is one overwhelming eventComplex trauma is on going exposure to fear and helplessnessCauses include: neglect, family conflict, unsupportive care giver, homelessness, violence, age segregation, poverty, privilege, racism, bigotry, addiction, abuseSymptoms include: inattention, impulsiveness, irritability, anger frustration, moodiness and fear Primary impact of traumatic stress is a breakdown in the capacity to regulate internal stasis like fear anger or sexual impulses
Emotions are what we feel-our feelings. We feel emotion when we associate with people and events. We feel emotions in our body as tingles, hot spots and muscular tension. Emotions cause us to want and not want. Emotions area part of our mood and affects our judgments and decision making.
Traumatic experiences upset and distress us. People have different reactions and vary at coping up with what has happened. Bottling up your feelings does not help, so talk about your feelings and don’t be embarrassed about them.
Motivation is the desire to do things. It’s very crucial in setting and attaining goals.Discipline helps children learn to control their behavior and they act on what they perceive is right or wrong. The children learn that there are consequences to what they do or how they act. It’s called learning the hard way.Punishment teaches a child to use violence to solve problems and kills self esteem. It makes the child hate himself and others.
A positive way to discipline a child by focusing both on the strengths and the problem.
A Theory of Human Motivation by Abraham Maslow in 1943 proposed that terms like Physiological, Safety, Belongingness and love, esteem and self actualization are patterns of motivation that a human moves through. He studied the healthiest student population and likes of Albert Einstein rather than mentally ill people. He quoted “The study of crippled, stunned, immature and unhealthy specimens can yield only a crippled psychology and crippled philosophy.”Physiological needs are the requirements for human survival, without which the body cannot function.Safety needs include personal and financial security, health and well being.Self actualization is realizing one’s potential and what one can be and must be.
William Glaser is the developer of reality therapy and choice theory. His main focus are personal choice, responsibility and personal transformation. A person is in control of his/her own behavior and long lasting psychological problems are related to relationships.We are born with 5 ‘genetically encoded needs – survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun. These vary in strength from person to person. Our brains constantly monitor whether these needs are being satisfied or not. Our pain drives us to find a way to feel better. Glaser believes the need to love and to belong is the primary need. (source-REALITY THERAPY: William Glaser)
In this world each person has an ability to do something no matter big or small and the right to win the world. To attain equality one should strengthen oneself as an individual. Parents teach an individual of their worth which is reinforced by others. A child models the respect and the worthiness of self as they see in their parents.
The capacity to rise above adversity and to forge lasting strengths in the struggle. It is the means by which children/adults can rebound from hardship and emerge as strong, healthy individuals, able to lead gratifying lives, albeit with some scars to show for their experiences. Stephen and Sybil WolinFamily support provides high levels of love and support. Caring adults, caring neighborhood, caring school climate, positive communication all instill a strong sense of independence, sense of personal power, self esteem, self discipline and strive for success and achievement.
Empowerment is the process of increasing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes. To increase the spiritual, political, social, educational ,gender or economic strength of individuals and communities.
In today’s society success –wealth and power are the pre-eminent values. To find a value that is appropriate for youth at risk, Traditional Native American child rearing philosophies provide a powerful alternative. Little is known about this 15,000 years old traditional knowledge. Native American philosophies of child management which emerged from cultures with a central purpose of education and empowerment seems to be the most effective system of positive discipline. Self esteem which is fostered by sense of self worth is a primary goal in socializing children. The 4 components of self esteem as proposed by Stanley Coopersmith are significance, competence, power and virtue. George Blue Bird an artist from Lakota Sioux portrayed this philosophy of child development in the medicine wheel in which belonging, mastery, independence and generosity are the central values which do not only belong to Native people but are for the world’s children.
In traditional Native society, it was the duty of all adults to serve as teachers for younger persons. The sense of belonging extended to nature as well. Children were taught through stories that everything in nature was interdependent and if this harmony was disturbed it would result in tragedies and disasters.
A student who demonstrates belonging includes others, helps people feel safe and respects people for who they are.
The goal of native education was to develop cognitive, physical, social and spiritual competence. When a child’s need to be competent is satisfied, motivation for further achievement is enhanced. A student who demonstrates mastery completes a task without giving up, believes that practice makes it perfect and sets goals and strives to achieve them.
Learning is social-we learn when we use one another. when we have the chance to be with one another.
Traditional Native culture placed a high value on individual freedom. Survival outside the camp circle depended upon making independent decisions and the training began in early childhood.A student who is independent takes responsibility for his/her actions, knows how actions impact the self and environment and is responsible and positive leader.
Children in Native cultures often sat in a circle while an older person talked to them of what was ahead as they became adults and what they should do to live good lives. Children were instructed to always share generously without holding back.A student who is generous does something good and does not expect anything in return and helps or teaches others.
Managing behavior is not changing behavior. This includes simple things which will keep the classroom environment safe and comfortable.